I live in Los Angeles and I'm lucky enough to write about the thing I love most: movies. I'm a graduate of Vassar College and Northwestern University and for 15 years I worked at Forbes mostly covering the entertainment industry. Although I've moved into the world of corporate journalism, I still contribute blog posts here.

Attack Of The Mockbuster Movie: Hobbits, Zombies And 2-Headed Sharks

Seen the new Lincoln movie? You know, the one where Abe leads a ragtag band of soldiers against the undead? No, not Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. That was the $70 million Fox film that grossed $100 million at the box office.

No, we’re talking about Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies . The difference? This one got produced for $250,000 by a tiny–but very, very busy–production company called The Asylum, and it grossed $400,000 or so.

Confused? That’s okay, and maybe part of the point. In an age of 200-plus content-hungry cable channels plus Netflix and Amazon, The Asylum is winning where mainstream Hollywood won’t–or can’t. Armed with distribution deals with Amazon, Netflix and Xbox, which buy all their products, partners David Latt, 46, David Rimawi, 48, and Paul Bales, 48, will churn out 28 films this year, compared with an average of 15 for the big studios. With titles like Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus and Sex Pot , their movies don’t win Oscars and they don’t top the box office charts. But they do fill time, grab views from insomniacs and lard up video-on-demand libraries, an increasingly key metric in the escalating marketing wars between VOD providers. And they make steady money: The Asylum’s total revenue for the last 12 months was $12 million, about the same as a big studio flop earns opening weekend but enough for a 15% profit margin. “Their movies get ratings,” says Thomas Vitale, head of original movies at cable network Syfy, who buys about ten of their films a year. “The whole point of the Saturday movie is to provide escapism, and they’re very good at that.”

Their method is simple and cynically state-of-the-art: Customers tell them exactly what they want in a film, how much they’ll pay for it and when they’ll need it–and The Asylum delivers. Their average turnaround time for a movie is six months compared with at least a year for a major studio film. Average budget: $250,000–financed by cash flow. “We’ve never been about what the artist wants,” says Latt. “And I think that’s the key to our success.”

The first incarnation of The Asylum was actually all about the artist. In 1996 Rimawi, who had lost his job with Australian studio Village Roadshow, started a business with Latt to funnel art-house movies to Hollywood Video stores. It was an admirable idea, but no one actually wanted to watch the films from first-time directors. Instead, Hollywood and Blockbuster asked for more genre films like horror flicks and teen sex comedies.

“We struggled to find them,” says Latt. “When they were good, they were bought up by Lionsgate or companies that could offer more money. So we decided, why not make them ourselves?”

In 2004 Latt and Rimawi were working on a movie for Blockbuster based on H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds when they heard Paramount had the same story in production with Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. They were prepared to kill their film, figuring no one would want a low-budget version when a $130 million version was hitting theaters.

They were wrong. “Blockbuster said, ‘We want you to make this movie, ‘ ” says Rimawi. “ People were excited about the movie and not everyone was going to see it in the movie theater.”

It was a direct-to-video hit, so they tried it again with King of the Lost World (based on King Kong ) and The Da Vinci Treasures.

Today 30% of The Asylum’s films are these so-called mockbusters (coming soon: Age of Hobbits ), and many earn them a sternly worded letter from a studio. So far there’s been only one lawsuit. Universal complained that The Asylum’s American Battleship used a title and art that were too close to the advertising for the studio’s $210 million summer blockbuster Battleship . Latt and Rimawi changed the title to American Warships and altered the art just enough to satisfy Universal’s lawyers.

“The studios are used to about 90% of their problems going away with one phone call,” says Rimawi. “We’re very familiar with the territory, and so is our lawyer. We haven’t had any movie release dates pulled.” Universal declined to comment.

Rather than rest, Latt and Rimawi are constantly innovating. Since VOD menus list offerings alphabetically, many Asylum movie titles now start with numbers, symbols or the letter A. One of their highest-grossing VOD hits is #1 Cheerleader Camp. Instead of Two-Headed Shark Attack they went with 2-Headed Shark Attack.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

Nice reporting and writing Dorothy. My two cents…we are living in a world of content overload. Its insanity. And the bubble will pop. For every Asylum making a couple hundred grand off a movie (not counting the movies that make no money at all), there are thousands of production companies and indies making no money, getting no air time, struggling for recognition and some press. As a business model, The Asylum may very well have what it takes to survive. Make C-list movies on the fly and just pump out Youtube-esque “stories” you pull out of a hat that has clickable titles. (Sex in a Snowstorm; T-Rex Meets Godzilla) and make a couple hundred grand. Not bad. But remember, that four hundred grand isnt going to pay the mortgage, or buy a Maserati. Its going back into the business to make Piranha School II, and buy equipment. What’s the end game? To sell your wares to a bigger producer or studio. It has to be. Otherwise, I think youre just chasing your tail. All of this is so unsustainable its not even funny. At some point there will just be a huge consolidation of titles, or everyone will be a freelancer and can say, like they say in Hollywood, that they are working on a “new project” and feel creative. People in the media business who have never been staff know how “exciting” and “sustainable” the world of freelance is. It’s not. And neither are the companies pumping out content in the media bubble I think we are living in now. Good luck to The Asylum. T Rex vs Godzilla…if it hasnt been done already…you can have it. No credit needed. ; )

The Asylum makes movies fast And cheap, not for art but for cash. No Oscar winning crew and cast In flicks of horror and sex bash. To top Video on Demand, A number or the letter “A” Starts out each flick title as planned To help entice viewers to play. The mockbuster has proved to be A profitable movie biz. Folks stay home and watch on T.V. - A mom and pop corn time it tiz.

Nice article, but while we’re clapping these guys on the back for their ingenuity, it’s probably worth mentioning how they exploit their (mostly young) crews by paying illegally low wages. It’s not uncommon for people to be paid as little as $60 for a 12 hour day on an Asylum shoot.